January 11 is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Human trafficking may seem like an abstract topic. But millions of vulnerable people are bought, sold and kept in captivity all over the world — even in your city. Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.

As image bearers of the God of justice (Isaiah 30:18), we reflect his heart for the oppressed. It’s our responsibility to be aware of the plight of captives and labor for their freedom.

This month social media and news outlets are sharing statistics and stories aimed at drawing your attention to the presence of human slavery in our world today. While awareness is critical, it’s just the beginning of our fight to end the global slave trade.

International Justice Mission (IJM) president, Gary Haugen, says, “Nothing happens just because we are aware of modern-day slavery, but nothing will ever happen until we are.”

I’m fresh off a couple of mission trips this past summer, one to Chicago and another to Kiev, Ukraine. Early this fall, we heard testimonies from members of our Young Pros ministry from these and several other trips. I LOVE such testimonies. I love hearing about how people are taking the gospel around the world.

But there’s a problem. We’ve all been there–the missionary testimony is perhaps enthusiastic, but definitely rambling. The person sharing is not a public speaker, after all (in most cases), and so he/she tends to be a bit scattered. I’ve been guilty myself. How do we stay focused and give effective testimonies briefly – to allow others to share as well – and powerfully?

Some vocations allow you to clearly see how God uses your work for his glory. A surgeon saves lives.A teacher prepares children for a lifetime of learning. A construction worker builds homes that provide shelter from the elements.

In other vocations, the connection seems less clear. What if your work involves typing words on a screen? What if you spend most of your working hours in an office, scribbling on a notepad or moving words around in sentences?

Lauren Pratt is the News and Information Specialist at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and many of her days involve such tasks. Recently, we had a chance to chat with Lauren about writing. In our conversation, you’ll see how God can use her work for his glory — and how he can use yours, too. Here’s our conversation.

A tipping point is the critical juncture in evolving developments that leads to a new and, often, irreversible state. We call that new state “the new normal.”

In church security we have witnessed two major tipping points. Though child sex abuse in churches was not new, it reached a new level of awareness and response when Pope John Paul II called an emergency meeting with the U. S. cardinals in 2002. We knew then the issue was serious and pervasive.

We reached a second major tipping point in November 2017 with the church shootings at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Among the 26 people killed were nine members of one family. Church leaders and members across the nation began to realize that if it can happen in Sutherland Springs, it can happen anywhere.

I recently conducted a social media survey to ask church leaders and members to share what their churches were doing for church security. I then went to the Church Answers community (ChurchAnswers.com) for more in-depth responses. Here are some realities of the new normal as articulated by these respondents.

I don’t know many church leaders who think they spend sufficient time with God. Our lives are busy, and it’s tough to add more responsibilities to our plate. Here, though, are some ways to spend more time with God, beginning today.

At Intersect, we want to equip you to engage culture — bringing your faith to bear on every corner of your life. And to learn how to engage culture well today, we should learn from people who have engaged culture well in the past.

Bruce Ashford published profiles of six heroes of cultural engagement — and we’ve compiled these posts for you below.

How can those of us who have been redeemed from all of our sins by the precious blood of Christ rightly make judgments without wrongly being judgmental? Let me share some thought for our consideration.

In 2011, I graduated from Hillsdale College as a mild socialist sympathizer. My studies of history had convinced me that capitalism caused as much harm as good, and that the socialistic drive to distribute economic goods to care for the weak of society resonated with Christian compassion. Between 2011 and 2016, my view changed as I discovered a deeper understanding of the biblical view of economics. The 2016 election brought these competing economic visions into the national spotlight.

Learning to swim is a terrifying experience. You are thrown into a body of liquid that could fill your lungs and kill you within minutes, and you’ve got to figure out how to stay on top of that liquid or die. This fun, summertime activity really is a life and death struggle.

I remember when I learned to swim in a pool full of still, over-chlorinated and temperature-controlled water. I felt like I’d done it. I was a swimmer! I could doggy-paddle around the pool that was surrounded by semi-attentive teenage lifeguards who were at least mildly concerned with my safety and survival. It was a controlled environment with one task: don’t sink into the still and easily navigable waters.

I am not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions. They always seem to be good ideas that fail within a few months. On the other hand, I am a huge fan of taking advantage of the changing calendar for reassessment and re-alignment. When I was in high school, I did a little surfing on the Gulf Coast. One thing I learned was the importance of putting something (usually an ice chest) on the beach to mark where I walked in the water. You see, the pull of the current and the act of chasing the next wave always pulled me away from the starting point. This happened so subtly that I was rarely aware of how far I had drifted. To keep my bearings, or to avoid drifting too far, I had to watch the marker and adjust my position in the water. The coming of a new year gives us all a chance to evaluate our lives and make adjustments so we can keep our bearings throughout the chaos of life.

I love hiking and backpacking. Recently, I read an article about recognizing “critters” in an area by looking at footprint tracks in the dirt. Some tracks aren’t alarming, but others say, “Be careful. There could be trouble in the area.” Based on my knowledge of far too many moral failures among church leaders, here are some “footprint tracks” that could signal upcoming trouble.